St. Patrick’s Day may be more than three weeks away, but Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese Inc. of Luxemburg is offering its new “Lucky” green cheese curds beginning March 2.

Ron’s “Sweetheart” pink-and-white cheese curds received national media attention as Valentine’s Day gifts after Gannett Co. Inc.’s Green Bay Press-Gazette ran a Feb. 2 story that was picked up by several Green Bay television stations.

The story was then broadcast on national television networks and an article appeared in the nationally circulated Gannett newspaper, USA Today.

“With the pink curds we were on television and radio from Portland, Ore., to Portland, Maine,” says Michael Hegerty, general manager, who was the brainchild behind the colored curds. “Our web and wholesale sales went through the roof.”

“I don’t even know yet how many orders we filled, but I was being interviewed by one radio and television after another – even a Spanish speaking station down in Miami,” Hegerty said.

It has been a wild time for Hegerty, who was hired in January by owner John Pagel. A Marquette University graduate, Hegerty’s only previous job was selling furniture.

“When I joined the team, my instructions from John were to keep the strong traditions of Ron’s Cheese, but make it more marketable,” said Hegerty. “The sweetheart curd idea stemmed out of our efforts to find an idea that won’t cost a lot to implement, but that would be good for team building.”

Although Hegerty doesn’t have sales figures yet from the Valentine’s Day blitz, he said that the store’s 20 employees did an amazing job.

“We were constantly making the Valentine’s cheese curds trying to keep up with all the orders,” said Kaitlynn Snyder, Ron’s marketing coordinator. “The production staff was incredible – putting in long hours.”

For competitive reasons, neither Hegerty nor Snyder will share the secret to customizing the curds, but they have plans to build on their success with colored cheese curds for special occasions throughout the year.

“It’s crazy,” said Hegerty. “I’m getting calls for wedding showers and baby showers ... and one guy wants me to make special curds for his school team.”

The St. Patrick’s Day “Lucky” curds are various shades of green. To create some local excitement, one to four “Lucky” packages sold each day in the Luxemburg store until March 17 will have a hidden gold curd that will entitle the buyer to pick a prize from a “Pot of Gold” in the store.

The prizes will include cheese and discount coupons on future purchases.

“St. Patrick’s Day is more of a celebration than a gift-giving day, but we think that people will be ordering them for parades and parties,” said Snyder.

Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese is offering eight-ounce bags of “Lucky” regular or garlic and dill cheese curds for $2.39 and a one-pound bag for $4.49 in their store.

Owner John Pagel, who purchased the business in January 2014, is also the owner of Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, a dairy farm in Kewaunee County. His parents, Carl and Garnet, purchased the farm on County C in 1946, and John and his six siblings grew up on the farm.

In the 1960s, the family named their growing homestead Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy after their favorite television show, “Bonanza” and its Ponderosa ranch home for the Cartwright family. His parents sold the farm to John in 1980. Since then, he has developed Pagel’s Ponderosa into a 5,000-cow milking operation with more than 100 employees.

Cheese curds start off with fresh milk. During the pasteurizing process, rennet is added to clot the milk. After the milk is pasteurized, the result is a mixture of whey and the early stages of curd. This mixture is cooked and then pressed to release the whey from the curd, creating the final cheese curd.

Hegerty said that Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese plans to offer pastel-colored curds for Easter and has other customized curds in the works as well.

“John is a good progressive person to work for,” Hegerty said. “He is always one step ahead.”

Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese also plans to open a specialty retail and food service outlet in Green Bay’s Cannery Market in June.